Clocks
by MaskedGamer39
Summary: Nico never got over Bianca di Angelo's death, so when a strange power claiming to be 'The Seer' gave him the notion that he could change the past; that he could get her back, he signed the deal. He didn't really think of the consequences. Rated T for mild swearing. Minorly based off 'The Flashpoint Paradox'
1. Prologue

**Clocks**

* * *

 **Prologue**

* * *

They say people never heal from the deep scars caused by life-changing, and at times, life-threatening events. Sometimes, they manage to forget, but that's temporary. These elements of the past will come back, maybe in the form of dreams, or a whispering voice at the back of your head that just won't shut up about how you could've done something. In a situation that in maybe you were helpless.

A child, too naive to the world around to notice that something was wrong. A silent, struggling spectator. A screaming protester held back by thousands of hands to be rendered useless to the situation. A tiny voice amidst a thousand, much crueler tones. Even a warrior who turned a second too late just to collapse. In all these instances, a human is practically one word - helpless.

But to this, the main character of this story would highly protest to. Maybe it's because he's not exactly human. However, in any case, he was just a clueless kid back then.

Why does this happen, is the question pushed forward by thousands of grieving souls. Why?

Perhaps it's Fate that puts us in these situations. Maybe it's Fate that gives you all the bad luck ever possible in the world, or all the tricky instances that even a wormhole out can't save you from.

If you've had such experiences that make you want to recoil in shame, or toss an explosive across the room to make the memory somehow explode from memory, you'll know what the young man in this story feels all too well. If not, well, now you'll know.

And this man? His name is Nico di Angelo.

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 **I**

A cold breeze ripped through the early skies of Camp Half-Blood. Even though it was three twenty-six in the morning when everyone should be sleeping, there sat one lone bird, wide awake of course, on the window sill of the thirteenth cabin.

It chirped curiously, peering in to the window, possibly searching for what the peculiar structure was for. The window was foggy,musty; like it hadn't been cleaned, or used, for years. It's big, shiny, black eyes almost squinted a bit, trying to see through the haze, but all it could see was the onyx color of the blackbird spreading throughout the expanse inside.

In present time, we have a word for this kind of place. We call it, 'deserted'.

Obviously, the bird knew, but it didn't know the word for the chilling feel of being alone in front of a dark building that possibly contained no life like his. A sparrow like it wasn't meant to.

A sudden flash of movement, seemingly unnoticeable, but there to the bird's keen gaze. It chirped in surprise, instinctively jumping off the ledge and flapping its wings.

Then all of a sudden, a pair of glowing, brown embers stared into its eyes from the musty surface of that window. Alarmed, the sparrow scrambled down, and managed to fly away fast enough from the impending danger towards the groups of trees nearby.

A pale, ghostly hand began to rub the other side of the window, revealing a face that was equally white and cloaked with exhaustion. Smudged eyeliner around eyes that seemed too old for their owner, dark unkempt hair, and a gaunt frame could be seen from the tiny, clean oval he had made with his palm on the window. Not a spotless window quite yet, but close.

He sat on the only slightly clean bed in the entire cabin; the rest were all perfectly kept and untouched, but covered in so much dust that it would probably make the garden nymphs jealous. He had no use for them because he didn't hang around much in Camp anyway, and nor did his only half-siblings or anyone around bother to check up on the Hades cabin. Typical.

He'd slept for exactly fifteen hours, he noted as he stood up again and stretched, wincing when he heard the bones shift a bit. Needless to say, Nico had absolutely no interaction with the outside world the entire time he solemnly existed at the Camp, except when he saw that sparrow on his windowsill that wasn't shutting up earlier. Nico was glad it flew off. It was driving him nuts.

Glancing at the big grandfather clock on the opposite side, he groaned out loud.

Silence rang out through the room, broken by an angry kick to the bedpost. Nico finally said something in a week.

"My sleeping schedule is fucked."

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 **II**

His hair wouldn't fix itself no matter how hard he tried.

Nico threw the comb across the bathroom, right into the bathtub. Stupid piece of plastic couldn't do its job.

Turning back to the looking glass, he glared at his disheveled appearance. Did he look like he'd been sleeping for the day? No, it seemed that he'd stayed awake for a week, with the size of the black bags under his eyes and hair that seemed like they had been through hell and back, not him.

He couldn't even see clearly thanks to the wonderful convenience of the electricity being out for a while, or basically, for the whole time the rest of the demigod camp lay asleep. Nico wished he hadn't woken up when he had, but he was pinning this on the bird that kept tweeting its head off on the window, like that was going to make things better for it at the time. Waking up to that was not a pleasant experience.

The moon from the window across the open bathroom door somehow managed to lighten up a bit of his face, but all he could see were his gaunt cheeks and now angry expression. Nico needed to punch something, anything, but fast. Land mines did need space to explode, after all.

After contemplating over not combing his hair for another hour or doing it, he brushed his teeth, managed to take a shower under the freezing cold water, and picking the latter, the son of Hades went to his desk and sat down in the black chair, and slumped over a blank sheet of paper with a pencil firmly between his fingers.

Sketching had always been a sort of escape for him, one could say. Nico found it easier to just draw his nightmares rather than sitting and thinking about their meaning for hours and giving himself a migraine. Once again, eyes squeezed shut for majority of the time, his pencil moved over the paper, outlining faces. Faces he wished he could never see again, be it this life or the next.

He folded up the paper and opened the creaky drawer under his table and slid it inside, shutting it with a soft thump. Taking another plain sheet, Nico drew eyes. He saw them sometimes, peering at him through the dark and somehow making everything go to mode ultra-bright.

Nico rolled his own. These green orbs showed up as quick as the Flash could whenever things got unbearable. That happened a lot, in his dreams at least.

Real life was a trifle... different. The owner of these eyes hadn't been met by Nico for centuries, practically. Well, maybe 'centuries' is too harsh a word, but it sure felt like it. He didn't know what was happening in Camp anyway, always cooped like a chicken in his cabin, and frankly, he didn't really care.

The pencil very conveniently snapped its tip into two, and he groaned again for the third time that time, throwing into the desk drawer with the half-finished drawing and banging it shut. Just as if on cue, he stood up and kicked the wall, perfectly in beat. Sharpeners were somehow not available anywhere, no matter where he went, and because his dad was a moron at times he wouldn't give Nico one, no matter how many chores he did for Persephone and no matter how many flowers he bought her.

Nico fell back into his bed, coughing when the dust flew into the air from the top bunk down to where he was.

He really had to do some serious cleaning.

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 **III**

While our favorite son of the Underworld was trying to get dust off blankets, another hero stood in front of a huge pyre, watching the flames lick the sky like a hungry dog. His eyes were misty; distant, and more like a doll's. Although the he was far from a doll, Jason Grace would remind someone of their childhood days with those toys with the huge eyes which seemed to sparkle with a strange light.

A common person would ask, 'why the fire?' To which Jason's reply would probably be a silent, unreadable look, and then more silence, followed by more questions in that person's head. That person, very unluckily, happened to be Leo Valdez, whose face could literally be the definition of a question mark.

"What the Hades are you up to, man?" When he received no reply, Leo sighed. "Look. I know it's been hard, and-"

"You don't know shit," Jason said quietly, anger lacing his tone as he turned to face the other boy, a storm brewing in his already grief-stricken eyes. "I watched it happen. You weren't there." He breathed in heavily, and continued watching the pyre.

Leo didn't say anything after that.

He watched the flames grow higher, the plumes of smoke shading the stars that were seemingly stagnant. No hope, or no wishes today, he thought sullenly.

"You know," Jason said suddenly, startling Leo out of his stupor, "she talked about you sometimes." A bitter chuckle forced its way out of the son of Zeus' mouth. "Said she thought you were the most insufferable yet the smartest kid she'd met in a while. She was the most worried about you, when you went... missing." The other boy stayed silent, feeling a bit lighter with the words.

"Thought she'd want you to know," Jason finally said.

Leo nodded.

It stayed silent after that.

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 **IV**

A dark shadow fell upon the cowering figure on the floor. A voice, sort of like prickling needles shrieked, "You have failed me! Again! I asked you to kill that bastard! What did you-"

"I'm sorry! I'll go try again-"

"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME PEASANT!" The figure flinched back at the tone.

The robed person dragged a hand across their face. "I gave you one job- oh, you know what?" A slow, evil grin appeared, scarier than a Fury.

"The imbecile deserves a punishment worse than death itself. If we can't kill them," they clasped both their hands together, "we do everything worse than that. And I know exactly what to do."


	2. Chapter One

**_Clocks_**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

* * *

 ** _I_**

The wind whipped against his face, like as if it existed to do just that.

Nico grunted inaudibly, his eyes unable to open up all that well. From his half-opened eyes, he saw the series of cuboidal rocks begin. So he was there.

The path went on for a bit. Graves littered the entire grassy land on his right and left. Rocks with names of someone, or something, who had met Thanatos while bravely engaging in combat and risking their lives for the sake of divine morons who had their yearly family squabbles.

It was unfair. Unfair that the gods, Titans, Primordials- Nico could care less about the list that went on and on -had their quarrels at such a magnitude and ended up sending ripples of disruption throughout their children's lives. He didn't understand why they had engage with the mortals in the first place if they weren't allowed to interfere during wars. The Fates could be quite unpractical at times, so it seemed.

And that saying, that 'everything happens for a reason,'? Absolute bullshit. Why did she have to die then? Did the Fates want to see Nico like this?

That's where we get the other saying, 'don't question something that can't be explained.' Nico wasn't sure if that was actual saying. He just decided to roll with it even though he got thorns stuck all over his back. Or glass shards, 'cause they sounded way cooler than the rose bush.

The path seemed to wind on forever, but the graves were slowly receding in the background.

One gravestone, in particular, stood in front of an olive tree, its branches almost bare of leaves and waving about like it was delivering a warning. Nico stopped in his tracks, and stared.

There it was.

He clenched the bouquet of white roses in his arm slightly as he walked over the grass towards the rock. The grass seemed damp and squishy under his sneakers, and the slab of grey rock had a couple of droplets of water on it on closer inspection. He wiped away the damp mud that had collected on it with his gloved hand.

Now one could see the slightly faded but dull words,

' _Bianca di Angelo. Beloved Sister.'_

Nico asked them not to write the date on which she was born. He wasn't sure of it himself, and keeping the most inaccurate numbers for an age wasn't his grand plan anyway.

He sat down on the wet grass, setting the white flowers in front of the stone.

"Hey Bia," he started, feeling slightly stupid he was talking to a gravestone, but he carried on nonetheless, "I miss you. Really, I do." He hesitated a bit. "I haven't visited in a while, but I promise I'll come every other week from now on."

A sigh escaped his lips. He probably sounded crazy.

Then he didn't know what to say. Bianca had always made him feel like this, even when they were younger, converting his usual tone to one of a ten year old kid all over again.

"Um... how are you doing? Hopefully Elysium isn't as cramped as I've heard that it is," Nico laughed a bit at his own joke, "the Hades cabin is worse, there's no one there. It's dark and all and I don't mind, but I wish you were here." He could feel his conscience rolling its eyes at him. Back around the mulberry bush he was going.

"So..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say. "I should get going," he finally said, glancing around at the dark clouds in the early morning sky. The son of Hades stood up and faced the grave, bowing his head.

"I'm sorry, even after all this. I should've been able to save you. I should've down something, anything."

His figure stayed there for a while, in form of a silent prayer for her. He wouldn't be done grieving, never, but he had come to a silent acceptance of some sort, an inner peace that was small, but unreachable by the dark.

"Stop blaming youself. There was nothing you could have done."

Nico's eyes snapped open at the voice. The voice he knew all too well, the one he hadn't heard in literally forever. Especially not at a place like this.

He whipped around, coming face to face with a familiar person.

The eyes were all that made him say it.

"P-Percy?"

* * *

 _ **II**_

When people called Lou Ellen a witch, she got quite angry. She wanted to feel like every other demigod at camp; welcome, among them; not a complete outsider who always got told to stay on border patrol during random attacks and whatnot.

However, she did not sign up to be knocked unconscious, dragged through only the Fates knew what, and be put in a glass dome that somehow reflected her magic.

After trying her teleportation spell for probably the fiftieth time, she sat down, her back resting against the surface of the dome. She did want that regular demigod treatment, but there were some things that could go on better without the occasional disadvantages.

Lou Ellen wondered if anyone else was here. Through the light of her failed spells, all she could see was darkness outside her little semi-circle. She'd been here for a couple of hours, Lou thought to herself while bringing her knees up to her chest. Logic seemed to point to the fact that she wasn't alone; there must be more people here, prisoners, demigods with the same kind of fear stabbing their hearts.

Besides the infuriating fact that her sorcery wasn't working, Lou couldn't see a thing, and being claustrophobic wasn't helping anything.

The area seemed to sap at her energy reserves, and as time passed Lou knew there would be a time when she wouldn't be able to attempt anymore magic. The last time this had happened didn't end up well, even with her half-sibling Alabaster, who had it worse. Although, Lou thought with a tinge of bitterness, he'd vanished years ago.

Suddenly, the sound of moving metal pierced her ears. She shot up, immediately glaring at its source. When the first footsteps sounded she decided to pretend she was asleep. Being awake in certain situations didn't seem to help anymore.

"-well, I'd run things a tad bit differently y'know, only if _She_ puts me in charge instead of Coraline," a deep voice grumbled, saying the word 'she' like it was some sort of sacred thing they weren't allowed to say. The footsteps grew louder, drawing close towards her little cell. She tried to steady her fast-paced breathing.

"Shut up," the second voice hissed darkly, "the prisoner is awake. I can feel it."

Well, thought Lou sarcastically, there goes my cover.

She still couldn't see anything, but before she could lash out at whoever was about to check on her, she felt the familiar prick of a needle at the back of her neck.

It somehow became darker.

i-i

Clovis loved to sleep.

Had he mentioned that? Soft pillows, warm blankets, the occasional lullaby, comforting stuffed animals, and literal sweet dreams. Everything a son of Hypnos could possibly ask for, or need, ever.

"Did you drink the last of the coffee?" A voice sounded from the front of the room, where Margo stood, staring at the empty lack of coffee mixes. Clovis decided not to reply, instead snuggling deeper into the blue and green checkered blanket, and shutting his eyes.

At the lack of a response, Margo picked up the nearest pillow from the couch and threw it at the boy's head, or what was visible of it. A grunt of annoyance could be heard a few seconds later.

"Dude, I asked you something," she said, rolling her eyes. Typical Clovis.

"Mmph."

"Did you drink all of it?"

"Mmph."

The daughter of Hypnos stomped out, muttering something about stupid half-brothers, while the brother in question sat up and yawned widely. He pulled himself out of the bed and walked towards the set of mugs and the kettle, pulling out an extra packet of coffee mix as he did.

Humming slightly, he began to pour the hot water onto the mug on top of the lump of mix at the bottom, before picking up the spoon in one of the other empty mugs and mixing it together. Coffee in the morning was always great, especially when it was always Margo who woke him up at seven everyday with her constant nagging for coffee.

Clovis put on his bunny slippers as he sipped the hot liquid, making his way out of the back door of the cabin, towards the quaint little garden behind their cabin.

It was unusually quiet today, he noted while sitting down on the chair facing a group of trees. Usually there'd be birds chirping, sparrows hopping on the branches of the trees, grasshoppers frolicking about, heck, some campers would be blabbering and Clovis would sit and laugh at their conversations until his coffee got all cold and neglected.

Now, it just seemed way too silent.

Something was definitely wrong. Something was going to happen.

And right Clovis was, for he didn't even get time to finish his drink before the sudden, drowsy feeling hit him.

And he knew it wasn't him feeling sleepy at will.

ii-ii

When Lou had finally managed to shake off that darkness that seemed to envelope her very being, she saw the light from a torch hanging of a wall.

Then she saw the bound-up figure in front of her.

Even though he was unconscious, his face downwards, mouth taped and all his limbs tied to a pole, Lou could still tell who he was. The familiar facial features, the messy hair, the eyes she hadn't seen in so long..

"Alabaster."

It wasn't a thought, or even a hypothesis. It was true fact.

Alabaster Torrington was very much alive, yet so far away. But he didn't seem to be all that lost to her anymore.

Hope had just begun to ignite its flame.

* * *

 _ **III**_

"You're here."

He didn't phase it as a statement, but it seemed to come out that way. However, the other boy seemed to catch on to the fact that it was a question.

"Yeah," the son of Poseidon breathed, staring at Nico with such an intensity that he wanted to evaporate from where he was standing.

"I'm here," he hesitated, "you weren't. Before, I mean."

"I wasn't." He didn't know what Percy was playing at, but he went along with it anyway. Percy stared at him for a few more minutes, then finally sighing as he looked away. He gestured toward the gravestone, still not looking at Nico. "That was on me. It was never your fault. It should not be your fault."

Nico didn't want to agree with him. Throughout the past few years, he'd blamed Percy for what had happened. He didn't want to do that anymore. So, he didn't.

"Wasn't yours. I shouldn't have made you go with them."

Percy raised an eyebrow, turning back to face him. His expression was incredulous. "Really? And you would have gone on that quest? Face it, I wouldn't have let you go in any case," he shrugged, albeit quite bitterly, "Fate played its cards. We don't have the Joker to win it this time."

Nico's lips twitched upwards. "What about the spades?"

"Nope. It's the Queen of Hearts."

"Do you even know how to play that game?"

"Can't say I do."

Silence rang out for a while, the two lost in their own thoughts. Percy seemed to want to say something, but must've thought better of it as he closed his mouth. Nico decided to make things less awkward.

"What are you doing here?" Percy seemed to deflate a bit at the question. He hesitated, "...I was walking."

The son of Hades raised an eyebrow in obvious suspicion. It apparently stood out to him that the other boy had no obvious business in a graveyard on the outskirts of Camp. Percy Jackson was the worst liar the world could have seen.

Percy must've understood that Nico didn't believe him, so he sighed and leaned against the tree behind the gravestone. "It's been a while since I'd seen you around," he looked down, arms folded. "I saw you heading here, so I followed. Didn't think you'd show up for breakfast anyway."

Nico smirked lightly. "Wasn't planning to. I like my cabin better." The last sentence earned a scoff from Percy, who rolled his eyes. "That shitty place with absolutely no sense of cleanliness and terrible lighting? Not likely at all."

They both smiled at each other, albeit hesitantly at first. When one of the two suddenly looked down at their feet, the other stared at the moist grass. Both had their ears tinged pink.

Nico had missed him, even though he wouldn't admit it. He wasn't sure he meant as much to Percy as the idiot did to him.

He suddenly heard the wind quite clearly for the next few minutes, as it whooshed past his ears repeatedly.

"Would you have done it?" Percy asked suddenly, turning to face Nico. "Would you have come on the quest and saved her if you could have?" Nico just shrugged. The question didn't seem to have as much as an effect as Percy had feared it would, relieving him slightly.

"In a heartbeat," he deadpanned. "I'll do anything if it means having her back, even for a few moments."

Percy's expression wasn't something pleasant and nice to see at the time, so he looked away. The disbelief, the anger, the quiet rage; he could see it all. So he looked away.

Then he grabbed Percy's hand and squeezed it gently, a sigh later. A sign that he would always be there.

That maybe he didn't completely want to change the way things had turned out.

And he meant it, he knew that, as the two stood in the tranquil quiet, as the clouds grouped, the trees shook from side to side, the droplets fell from the sky in an almost rhythmic motion, and Percy surprisingly edged closer to him, watching the water fall.


	3. Chapter Two

_**Clocks**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter Two**_

* * *

 ** _I_**

 _Green plumes of smoke filled the unusually bright blue sky._

 _The display of the shades above may have actually kept Nico staring forever at the blending colors, however, he knew that this was obviously a dream. And any dream involving caves, green smoke, obnoxiously bright skies and a bright white ground always spelled bad news._

 _Unlike most of these visions, he found that he could move around quite easily. While he would be glued to the floor in most cases, Nico found that he could actually walk and process things completely normally. Flapping his arms around a bit to test the limits, he walked in a circle, looking at the strange trees and other flora. There was even a cave somewhere, looking like that typical, grey, dark one, like those in his picture books from when he was younger._

 _He went right up the the entrance of the cave and peered inside._

 _He couldn't see anything, so he stepped back a few steps and watched the green smoke for a few seconds, for he wanted to know where it was coming from. Perhaps there would be someone nearby that he was supposed to talk to._

 _Nico's thought process was suddenly shattered when he heard something._

 _"Help me."_

 _It was a female, ghostly voice, yet somehow familiar. The helpless tone of it made him shudder violently even through it wasn't cold at all._

 _It sounded like one of those horror movies in which you hear the ghoul moaning and groaning and scaring away the inhabitants, until when some oblivious poor soul showed up again, and the ghoul decided it would be fun as hell to play with this soul by doing the unspeakable. Nico felt like the main protagonist. He stood on end, in a sort of battle stance._

 _He heard it again, closer this time. "Please," the voice rasped, "help." A series of sounds filled the air, the sort that you would hear in a way too silent house. The green mist shifted slightly, revealing an extremely white ball of light illuminating this world, nothing like the sun._

 _Nico knew what this was._

 _It was freaking creepy._

 _Suddenly, a flash of bright green caught Nico's eye. He turned back towards the entrance of the cave, staring at it intently._

 _Sure enough, a pale green light was pulsing inside, barely noticeable, but it was there. This seemed like the Oracle's cave anyway, so it was probably another prophecy. He sighed out loud, taking hesitant steps towards the entrance. Running a hand across the calloused rock, he looked up, eyes filled with some light that wasn't there before. Ignoring the slightly unnerving sounds, Nico walked into the cave._

 _"Help me, Nico."_

 _The disembodied voice seemed to drawl out, each syllable echoing off the sides of the narrow passageway. He didn't question how the voice knew his name, instead choosing to ignore it and walk. He was getting closer to the source._

 _Besides, this was just a dream._

 _Right?_

 _"Won't you help me?" The voice seemingly wailed, scratching figuratively against the walls. Nico flinched in the dark, trying to follow the pulses of green light. The ghoulish sounds were definitely louder now, if not before._

 _"You promised!"_

 _He froze._

 _A loud, pained moan filled the passage again. "You promised you'd help me," the female ghost, now Nico could feel it was just that, chanted repeatedly. "You promised._

 _ **You promised.**_

 _You **promised**._

 _ **You** promised._

 _You-"_

 _"STOP!"_

 _He clawed at his hair, sinking down to the floor. One of his hands flew up the the wall for support as he panted heavily, sweat pouring down his face. He'd do anything, anything to get out of this, anything for someone to tell him it wasn't her, anything, anything-_

 _"You didn't help." Now the voice had taken on a dejected tone, anger rising in it almost naturally. "You didn't come."_

 _Nico wanted to object. Say he'd been too young to have understood matters. Say that it wasn't his fault. Say that he would've if it had been some other way. Say that he wasn't responsible for it in any way._

 _Blamed the source for becoming the one with the arrows in the first place._

 _Blamed the only other person who had obviously failed to help and misused that one chance._

 _Blamed it on Fate itself, for being so capricious and determined to ruin his existence. Or on the gods for their idiocy and terrible reign._

 _However, the more he thought about it, the more his thoughts and pointless comebacks became nonsensical, even to him. Everyone was wrong. Percy was wrong._

 _It had been on him all along, hadn't it?_

 _He was the brother, the one who was supposed to protect her._

 _"You didn't help me. Why?"_

 _Nicos mouth felt dry. He stared down at the dark, noisy ground, his mouth partially open as an attempt to breathe. Eyes squeezed shut, a tightly balled fist placed right into the soil like a sword in its sheath. He didn't have an answer._

 _The voice realized that too probably, as it whispered it's next sentence with the most venom possible. "You didn't care."_

 _His eyes snapped open in astonishment maybe, blinking away the inevitable. He didn't say anything._

 _"You didn't care," a low, feral sound. "You never cared." The moans and angry shouts began, filling him with even more dread, and the strange desire to dig himself his grave and stay down there._

 _He wanted to protest to that, so damn badly. He did care. She was always the one thing he'd never stop caring about. He loved her._

 _But the lump in his throat that seemed to spreading around his voice box didn't spare him a word. The ghost seemed closer than ever at that moment, as Nico felt the mist rise near him. Goosebumps appeared on his forearm, and the sweat trickled down his pained face, as if on cue._

 _The mist materialized into a figure. One that Nico recognized very well._

 _"Why?" Bianca did Angelo asked, a sort of melancholy in her distorted voice, but a hidden anger there as well. "Why didn't you come?" He face was a mixture of sadness, disappointment, and Nico knew that there was fury as well. It was masked, but still apparent, at least to him. Her face swirled a bit, eyes sharp as they always had been. She wore her Hunter's attire; he could see the quiver of arrows sling on her shoulders, the braided hair with a tinge of brown on the most. He suddenly felt like a small child all over again; that ten year old boy he was all those years ago._

 _So he lowered his head. Regret and guilt flooded through his very being, leaving him weak. He held onto the wall for support, yet again. He was so damn drained._

 _"You don't care," she snarled suddenly, any hint of niceness or sadness suddenly vaporizing into the air._

 _"I-I," Nico wheezed as he slumped back down. "I c-care about you." He couldn't say more. It felt like an umbrella had been shoved down his throat, then opened up inside. A tight feeling crawled up, like the anticipating, occasional spider. If Bianca noticed, she didn't seem to care either. She shouldn't, for him anyway._

 _He'd let her down._

 _He'd let everybody down._

 _Bianca stayed silent. Then she towered over his cowering figure. "Prove it!" She glared, her eyes narrowing to slits. "Prove that you care. Prove that you miss me," she ground out._

 _"H-How?"_

 _He wanted it to end._

 _He needed to do this. He'd do anything for her anyway._

 _Her figure flickered red for a millisecond, before she fixed a level glare at her cowering brother's head. "Save me," she rasped, "come and save me."_

" _How-"_

 _"Save ME!" Greek fire began to line the end of the cave, headed towards him. Nico couldn't form a coherent thought in his clouded head, but he couldn't understand how he was supposed to do something to an event that had happened before._

 _An event in the past. That wasn't meant to be disrupted._

 _Bianca didn't really seem to help him get a grip on it all. She just said something that made absolutely no sense to his already clogged up mind._

 _"Find the Seer."_

 _Then the fire engulfed everything around him, and all he saw next was the familiar shade of black._

* * *

 _ **II**_

"-ico, wake up! Nico! Earth to Ghost King!"

He shot up, gasping for air. When he felt the wet splotches on his cheeks, still pouring down, and the comforting hand on his shoulder, he knew his secret was out.

Perch say next to him, a reassuring expression of some sort on his face and eyes filled with concern. Despite everything, Nico couldn't understand how this boy was who he was, and why he stayed.

"You alright?" Percy asked, then immediately facepalmed at the stupid question. "I mean," he hesitated, trying to put his thoughts in a sentence, "was it bad?"

They both knew what he was talking about.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?" He rubbed his swollen eyes and glanced at the son of Poseidon. "Was I-"

"You were screaming," Percy said bluntly, tilting his head a bit. "What did you see?"

He knew Percy was trying to be helpful, but he felt nauseous even thinking about it. "I don't want to talk about it," he said, staring at the blue blankets on Percy's bed, draped around him. Percy sat on the other end in his striped pajamas, legs folded, and arms resting on the surface of the unusually huge bed. He nodded in understanding, yet he kept the eye contact.

Percy shuffled closer to him. Suddenly, Nico felt two arms wrap around his figure. He flinched in surprise, but melted right into the hug, placing his hands on Percy's back.

"You are not sleeping in your cabin alone," Percy mumbled into his shoulder, pulling him in closer.

"I'm not alone," Percy looked at him in surprise, "there's the dark. And that sparrow outside my window who loves waking me up at three." He received a playful punch to his gut as they pulled apart. "Not like that, dumbass. Humans. You sit in that place like a freaking beaver hugging its wood. Get out a bit. And no," Percy interrupted Nico's protest, "no hanging around graves and no Happy Meals."

The son of Hades groaned loudly, making the older boy smile stupidly, his grin as lopsided as always. He met his gaze, the smile still prevalent on his face, "Come for breakfast?"

And that was when Nico steeled himself, wearing a neutral expression. Percy seemed to notice the change on the atmosphere, but before he could say anything the younger boy held up a hand. "What are we?" He asked.

"Huh?" He tilted his head yet again, frowning at Nico. "What do you mean?" He wanted to smack his head at Percy's obliviousness, but smile at the same time. _Not the time, di Angelo._

"As in," he gestured between them, "What are we?" Percy's mouth formed a small 'o', but he stayed silent.

"Whatever you want us to be," he finally said, meeting Nico's eyes.

He wanted to reply, but just then, a series of knocks began on the door of the Poseidon cabin, far too loud for his liking. He saw Percy wince at the sudden sound, so he stood up and walked towards the door, unlocking it and pulling it open. "What's going on?"

There were three people at the door. Leading the other two was none other than Leo Valdez.

The Latino elf wasn't smiling. A dark, forlorn expression had somehow twisted his face into something that Nico was sure didn't even belong there in the first place. "We need Percy," he said gravely.

"Campers are going missing. It's been two of them this week."

Percy pushed past Nico's short figure and gave Leo an unreadable look from the door. Sometimes he was surprised Percy was the taller and older one. "Tell me everything. I'll be there at the Big House in a bit."

* * *

 ** _III_**

She'd seen Clovis enter that room, hands tied, half asleep, panicked and everything else that went along with the theme. They even made Alabaster walk in there from his prison dome next to her new one. All he had done was look at her sadly as he was dragged out of the room, the door slammed and bolted for good measure.

It had been almost three days now, she felt like it was. There weren't even any damn windows in this place so she could look outside instead of sit and stare at unmoving walls in a seeming dungeon.

Lou had given up trying to get out. It wasn't working anyway.

Clovis had just appeared the day before, in slippers and pajamas. He was put in the dome next to Alabaster's, asleep in the most weird ways possible - although that wasn't a surprise, he was the most experienced son of Sleep himself. Alabaster was out cold as well, hands and legs tied since he was the most powerful magician there. So then that raised the question - _why the hell was she here?_

Her magic wasn't even that strong to get out of a repellent dome. And if these people had Alabaster, they might as well may have a huge advantage on their side against whatever side they were up against. Why two children of Hecate then?

Just as she was about to sigh and try to sleep again, the sound of crunching metal heat again filled the room. It annoyed her to no end as her sense prickled with the need to slap that moron holiding the lever for the door. Even the lights were way too bright, Lou noted uncaringly as she stared at the open door, waiting for the other two to come back.

And true that thought was.

Clovis got thrown in first. The dome just formed around him, like some sort of translucent green goo caging him in. Lou saw his lower lip tremble, hands raised as if he was surrendering. He seemed horrified, afraid, guilty; every single negative emotion coupled into one. What had they made him do?

Next, Alabaster flew in from ten feet right behind Clovis, another dome forming around him as well, but this one was translucent purple. Possibly a stronger prison, she thought. He groaned out loud.

"Al?" She decided to whisper, but the hysteria could be heard in her voice loud and clear.

He looked at her. Then he smiled tiredly, if a twitch of the lips was considered a smile. "Hey Lou."

"Man, you two know each other? Who is this guy, Ellen?" Clovis buried his head in his hands. "These guys outside are freaking insane. What the hell do they want from us?"

"He's Alabster Torrington. The lost demigod. And my brother." Then suddenly Lou felt a spark go through her.

The came the anger, like a flood of realization.

"Where were you? I thought you were dead! You had all of us worried, Al, all of us! And Chiron wouldn't even let us go out to find you-" She was breathing hard, anger twisting her features into what Alabaster had hoped he'd never have to see. He tried to talk, but he was cut off with another bout of anger.

"Lou-"

"-and the worst part?" When she looked up, unshed tears had gathered in her eyes. "We thought you were gone. Never coming back. I always believed you'd come back. And then I find you here-"

"Lou, please-"

"-so you never missed us? You never came to visit. And don't 'Lou' me," she spat, glaring, "we all had the Alabaster memorial every year for no reason, right? You were just out there, weren't you, thinking you were a freaking outcast and a joke? News flash, no one thinks that! If they did, then not anymore. Things are different now. And then you have the nerve to 'Lou' me after four years? Alabaster, four freaking years?"

Alabaster looked down, slightly guilty. Lou thought he deserved it.

"You wanna know why I didn't come back? I mean, yeah, I did help an old man on the way and embark on some quests, but that was my coping. You remember what you told me when I ran off to join that stupid titan?" He looked up at her, obviously trying to be calm but anxious even then.

Lou swallowed. She remembered all too well.

"You told me I should be the one to help all our brothers and sisters. You told me I should catch you all when you all flew out of the nest with all those new powers. Heck, I remember promising you I'd catch you if you flew." Alabaster looked drained, but he continued, "I was afraid, Lou. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to catch you this time."

Nobody dared say anything for the next few seconds. The two were avoiding each other's gaze as much as possible. Nothing was to be said, anyway.

It was funny, Lou thought. Funny how four years worth of pent up emotions and rage could all be extinguished by a single sentence.

Funny how much that one sentence meant.

It was Clovis who cleared his throat, startling both siblings. "Um... guys? This reunion was nice and all, I'd hate to interrupt it, but we are in a situation at the moment, and I have no idea about what to do."

Both were momentarily stunned. Then her brother seemed to snap back to reality, meeting Clovis' worried gaze.

He nodded slowly. "Yes, of course. What happened there was strange. Why did I have to make those Mist images?"

"And why did I make a person enter the nightmare realm?" Lou didn't understand about what they meant, but before she could even open her mouth to ask-

"And why are you questioning something that you'll never get an answer to?" A voice cut in darkly. The three immediately looked in the direction of the voice.

There was another jail-dome about a couple of feef away from Lou's, which had alerts on sitting inside, arms folded and an incredulous expression on their face. The person had the same hair that Alabaster had, but it was obvious that it wasn't their gender. The person seemed to roll their eyes at their staring.

"I'm non-binary, twerps. Cut the staring. The name's Avi."

Clovis' jaw comically dropped. "Holy shit," his eyes widened, "like the kid of Morpheus? I've seen you before, I know I have!"

Avi nodded nonchalantly. "I entered a dream of yours. To warn you about this hellhole without actually mentioning it," they coughed into their hand, "although you didn't catch up on it at all. All you were interested in was turnips."

"Turnips?" Clovis looked confused, but Alabaster didn't wait for him to reply and interjected. "So Magic, Sleep And Dreams? What the hell do they want with us?" It wasn't necessarily talking to Avi, but they must have thought otherwise.

The child of Morpheus shrugged lightly. "Dunno. I've been here for three- I think- weeks now. Got abducted on my way to camp, y'know," he waved it off, "regular happenings. The whole thing was such a big secret apparently that no one noticed. Luckily, my mom was a demigod too, so she knew what was going on, but I think she wasn't looking forward to camp. Monsters outnumbered us, I got brought here, blah blah blah-"

Lou decided that would be a nice time to interrupt. "Wait," she frowned before saying, "so you've never been to camp, your mom is a child of some Greek god, you can use your powers well enough, you got brought here, you somehow know Clovis, and you have no idea about what's going on and why we're here in the first place."

Avi shrugged and said, "Pretty much."

"We are talking like we've known each other before. This is hilarious," Alabaster muttered, before looking at Clovis and then at Avi. "How did you know him?" He asked Avi, pointing to the son of Hypnos.

"Heard some idiot in this huge place say something like 'we will attack Clovis next' or something, and then I invaded their dreams at some point since they still didn't know the extent of my powers. Then I made them confess most things in their dreams."

"Wow," Lou deadpanned.

"I know."

Alabaster didn't seem to be affected by the comment. "What did you find out?"

"They didn't tell me much. And if I acted suspicious they'd find out I was there, so I didn't make it very obvious that I was interrogating them. Just pretended to chat with them as the robed King I-Am-An-Ass and got some info from them in exactly thirty seconds before someone caught me." Avi seemed partly annoyed at that. "All I know is that their leader hates someone so they're all trying to catch him and punish him. With what, I don't know."

"Well I might," Alabaster said slowly. He pointed at each of them. "Hypnos," that was Clovis, "Hecate," he gestured to both he and Lou, "and Morpheus," he pointed to Avi.

When he recieved nothing but blank looks, he groaned.

"Don't you see? We are all different parts of a huge plan. Imagine magic coupled with dreams while you sleep. And with what Avi said, add a punishment to the list of clues."

Lou realized what he was hinting at. "A punishment. In a virtual way of some sorts.." She looked at all three of them questioningly. _What had happened when they were gone?_

She didn't get to ask. Yet again.

"Correct." Alabaster rubbed his forehead, "but for what?"

* * *

 ** _IV_**

Nico didn't follow Percy to the Big House.

He sat outside in front of the huge lake, staring at the horizon. It seemed unreachable, far away; impossible to reach or see we'll enough.

Exactly like what he was asked to do.

Who was the 'Seer', and why did Bianca mention that? If Nico knew better, he'd say it was a mode of false advertising. He was mad about the fact that someone had exploited his weaknesses quite badly from the minute he'd started thinking about it, but the more he did, he realized something.

The person who had made him go through this experience evidently knew about about what they were doing. If going back and changing it, rewriting the books, bringing her back was possible...

He stood up, a fire burning in his eyes.

* * *

( **Author's Note) - A huge thanks and a welcome to the first three readers to join this bumpy ride. Thoughts?**


	4. Chapter Three

_**Clocks**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter Three**_

* * *

 **I**

He should've told Percy before leaving.

Well, the son of Poseidon was busy arguing with some other demigods in the Big House about the disappearances after all. Nico was useless in that department, so Percy wouldn't need him there.

Nico trudged through the grass, looking up at the groups of trees and the blinding sun. His backpack felt even more heavier than earlier, thanks to which his shoulders were starting to hurt, sears of pain passing through occasionally. Sweat poured down his face due to heat.

However, none of it really bothered him. The one thing that did was echoing about in his head, as he threw around what Bianca had said.

' _Find the Seer.'_

It sounded like some sort of Oracle, perhaps a fortune teller. Nico had enough of green mist for one day, so he decided to find a particular Oracle who didn't really need the three-legged stool who perhaps would know what was going on. He pushed aside the vines and stepped over the stump of a cut tree.

She would probably be at college now, Nico thought to himself as he steppped out of the clearing, landing up on the brick path near the busy road, filled with lines of multi-colored vehicles.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare, with much help from the Seven, had managed to convince her parents to let her go to an art college, a very prestigious one at that. Mr and Mrs Dare had been extremely reluctant at the start, but with the help of a very convincing facade and from the demigods, they let her attend. It was her first year there.

Nico just hoped she knew what was going on. Rachel had made it clear that she didn't want any demigod business during the semester, but he decided to take his chances.

After walking for a bit, he melted into the shadows.

The feel of shadow-traveling would honestly never change. Each time he stepped into the darkness, there was always the whooshing, cold air, the claustrophobia, The fear of it all, and that feel like he was being sucked into the abyss, never to return.

Nico hated to admit it to anyone, but this was definitely not on the top hundred best Underworld powers, if there even were that many.

Nico nearly popped up in front of the place he had hoped he would.

'Dartmouth Art Academy,' read the neatly printed letters above the much too large entrance. The glass doors shone with a yellowish glint, contrary to the building which was painted white and nothing lesser than impeccable. It had a little gravel path leading to the entrance, starting from the huge walls and metal gates, and bushes running along the school walls and the gate walls. Trees and other plants littered the place as well.

It seemed so serene and peaceful. Nothing like the demigod world.

Nico squinted against the surprisingly bright rays of the sun, looking for a way in. The place was huge too, with its dormitories, various rooms for practicing art, and the main building for the foyer and all that. He had no idea how exactly colleges worked, but he assumed that was how it was.

Rachel's dorm room was in the third building, room number something between twelve, or twenty-one. The last time he'd been here was an year ago when Rachel had taken them all to see the place, and he didn't remember much from the short time he'd had here.

Deciding to trust his instincts for once, he crept towards the third building the best he could through the bushes and the occasional tree. Then he began his climb up the wall, using the tree near the building and reaching into the window ledges for support.

Being the smooth, great person he was, Nico snuck in through the window of what he hoped was room twenty-one.

He tumbled off onto the wooden floor, standing up and brushing his jeans.

Nico glanced at his watch. It was fifteen past one, hopefully the lunch-time here. Maybe the Oracle would show up quickly, finish up the business, and he could leave without much of a hassle. Mortals, besides the one he was here to see, were one thing he didn't want to deal with today.

He took a look around the room, taking in its empty, yet calm atmosphere. There were two bunk beds, each one with their own cabinets, bedspreads and owners. Four desks ran along the opposite wall, and a huge rug was on the wooden floor beneath his feet. The sun filtered in through the window, casting an almost happy light over the colorful room.

Paint was splattered against the walls, and half-done canvases lay on the beds, on the tables and on the wooden stands lying around. She must be really happy here, he thought, Rachel being among like-minded people like her must have made her happy.

A bell suddenly rang, startling him so much he nearly tripped on his own feet. He didn't hear someone approaching the door for that very reason.

The door suddenly slammed open, and that's when Nico met eyes with the one and only, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Her eyes widened in surprise, so Nico did the one thing that made sense. He gave her a slight nod and stepped out of the door view.

Rachel managed to convince her friends not to enter the room. Then she turned to Nico, full on glaring at him.

"What are you doing here? I thought I said I didn't want to see you guys here until at least a term!" She sounded so frustrated Nico felt bad for showing up. "I wanted to ask you about something," he said calmly, surprising himself with his tone.

He knew it was selfish to come here and ruin the little peace parade she and going, but he pushed it away and looked at her, waiting for an answer.

Her eyes narrowed. "Well, hurry up then. I have class in a while."

Nico took a deep breath. Then he told her everything.

Everything from the Bianca dream, till the end. Then about the strange request his sister had. It was like as if a strange weight had been removed from his chest, and Nico was surprised that it was easier to breath.

Rachel sat down on her bed, gesturing towards a chair nearby, to which Nico headed towards and sat down. She suddenly seemed to be thinking so hard that he could see the gears turning about in her head. Then she sighed, looking at him again.

"I'm trying really hard not to pick you up and throw you out of the window y'know," she said finally, glancing around the room with an anxious look on her face. "I've managed to reel in those stupid prophecies for so long. But, this is extremely serious," she took a deep breath, and started.

"I can't tell you much, you know that. I usually have visions about these things and know stuff in advance, but this case is strange," she frowned, "I only know small snippets of what's to come. But I can tell you this," Rachel bowed her head slightly. "It's not good. You have to make sure that emotion doesn't come in front of any of your judgements. And I mean it. None of them."

Nico opted on staying silent.

Rachel continued. "I trust that you of all people will do what's right. Your fatal flaw as a hero isn't that great and you know it." Of course he did. Holding grudges, like every other Hades child for the last few centuries.

"And remember," she seemed to struggle while saying this, "everything is going to change. Everything."

Then the bell rang, signaling the end of their chat.

Rachel grabbed her books, gave a curt nod to a still dazed Nico, and as he stumbled towards the window, she opened the door a crack and managed to get out.

He jumped out of the window just then, grabbing onto the ledge for support before climbing down as fast as he could without attracting any attention. Once he was back in the bushes, he relaxed slightly.

Nico looked up at the sky, before he stood up and walked right out of the gate.

He'd come here, he'd gotten what he could. Things would get bad, she had said, it wouldn't be the same for a bit. He pondered over what he'd just heard, his ears ringing.

Just as he began walking across the pavement, something hard hit his head.

The pain came quite naturally, but it didn't really sink in until he felt something being injected into the back of his neck.

That's when it all faded away.

* * *

 **II**

Nico woke up and passed out a few times, many more times than he would've liked or counted.

All he saw was a white ceiling. It was so bright that it made his eyes hurt, so he closed them time to time.

What was happening?

.

.

.

At some point, he thought he spotted Bianca peering down at him sadly, or Percy shaking his head.

He thought he saw others - Jason, Frank, Hazel, a certain daughter of Athena.

Why were they there?

.

.

.

He was on a couch the next second, sleeping on it.

Nico jolted upright, immediately trying to scan the area. His eyes protested, sending a burst of pain that made him recoil back to his former position, as he shut his eyes yet again. He felt consciousness return, and thoughts started flowing through his head.

That's when it hit him.

He had no idea where he was.

"They shall be seeing you shortly," a robotic voice resonated across the room, shaking him out of his stupor. Through his bleary eyes, he made out a chair and a table in front of the couch he was on, and the purple-carpeted floor. There were white pillars, or that's what it looked like, in all four corners of the room.

Nico tried to sit up, rubbing his burning eyes.

The pain hit him like a bulldozer, and then he was out again.

.

.

.

When he came to again, there was someone sitting on the chair in front of him.

Nico looked down at himself. He was sitting up this time, and when he opened his eyes, it didn't hurt at all. He looked around the room once again.

"Good evening, Mr di Angelo. We have a lot to discuss. Tea?"

Nico shook his head slightly, unable to speak. He still felt extremely tired and like as if someone had run him over with a truck. The taste in his mouth was nasty, and every single one of his teeth ached. He ignored it along with his parched throat.

The robed figure shrugged. "Suit yourself," they said, voice all distorted from under their mask and hood. The mask was a teal one which strangely reminded Nico of the masks from the Court of Owls from those old Batman comics he had seen around; in other words, it had the same cruel eyes, same unnoticeable nose, same stoic mouth.

When the person held the teacup up to his mouth, or whatever he had, to drink, Nico couldn't help but wonder how that was possible. Where was the tea going?

The robes were a darker shade of navy blue, with some grey highlights here and there. Overall, this costume didn't reveal much about the wearer, making Nico even more frustrated as to why he was here.

The guy seemed to notice his growing impatience and restlessness. "So," they sipped some more of their tea, "you seek me, I presume?"

"I don't seek anybody," Nico snapped darkly, voice hoarse. "You just showed up and kidnapped me from the middle of the freaking road."

"Ah, yes," a sniff, "that was necessary. We cannot have demigods such as yourself knowing the location of our headquarters. The prospect is inevitable, although things will get quite... messy." They looked at Nico - he couldn't see the eyes under the mask, but he could tell they were scrutinizing him. He ended up frowning slightly.

"Who are you?" Usually people asked the son of Hades that question. He got annoyed at it, and he could tell that this robed guy was too.

They sighed darkly. "Me? You must know, di Angelo."

"I am the Seer, the one you seek."

At first he felt something similar to surprise bubble up to the surface of his usually pent up emotions. Then he felt the rage; red, hot, sizzling, forming little bubbles on the surface.

"Some form of advertising you have," Nico sneered angrily, "using my dead sister against me. You have no right, bastard."

He expected the Seer to be angry, but they looked quite calm, like as if this happened everyday. "Actually, she was trying to communicate with you via less dependable methods. I simply helped her gain passage to you."

"But.." he faltered. Would she say those things to him? Was she disappointed?

No. This dude, whoever he was, had to be lying. There was no way-

"What did she say to you? Perhaps I can be of assistance."

He growled in response. Bianca would never say things like that, even if she had actually appeared. Right?

And even if she had intended to say those things, he wasn't going to go around sharing it with these random immortals who showed up claiming they wanted to help. This Seer, or whatever, could have simply implanted the dream in his head, anyway.

"None of your business. And I told you before, I don't seek anybody. Send me back. Now."

"Foolish demigod," the Seer sneered right back, any form of niceties evaporating from their tone, "I am much more powerful than what you think. Choose your next words wisely. I am only so tolerable to such behavior from a demigod of your race. Don't tell me what to do."

Nico stayed silent, staring at the entity.

"Are you a titan? Primordial, perhaps?"

A laugh. "Quite daring guesses, son of Hades. However, I am none of those. You may know me as just an entity for now. Now, enough games," the teacup disappeared, "You have been brought here for a purpose that I suppose you know already."

He just kept glaring at the guy.

"What did your sister tell you? I must know if I am to be of any help to you," the Seer pressed. He couldn't see under the mask, but it was obvious this person was getting frustrated. "Shouldn't you know already if you love stalking me so much?" Nico asked, earning something that he thought was an eye roll. "I can't enter dreams, as much as I would like to. Now do what you have been asked to do."

Nico didn't want to tell them about it. So he decided to stay as vague as possible. "She told me to find you. That was all." That wasn't exactly a lie. She had been telling him things that had already been floating about in his brain at some point, and that had been the only new piece of information he'd gotten.

"That's all?" The Seer sounded suspicious, rightfully so too. Nico nodded, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Hmph. Then we need to know why she asked that of you, isn't it? Spill, di Angelo. I'm wasting my time as it is. And that is very valuable, you of all people should know that."

"Fine," Nico hesitated, trying to block out Bianca's weary and angry voice from his memory, "she kept asking me to save her. Then she asked me to find you." It sounded like nonsense even to him, and he waited for the Seer to laugh at him and send him home on his way. Maybe he'd get the reminder that he was insane too, far too gone for help at all. That would've been better than the alternative.

Instead, the person stood up. "I believe I understand what she was trying to tell you. Come with me."

"Why do you care so much?" The question tumbled right out of his mouth. Although, he couldn't even help but wonder why this random entity who had better things to do than talk to half-insane demigods had chosen to do just that. And no good thing ever came without payment, even he knew that the hard way.

This guy would probably start demanding things the minute they showed him what Nico wanted to see and hear.

He received no reply however.

They swept out of the room with Nico right behind, wondering if he had made a grave mistake.

* * *

 **III**

"I have something here. An invention, perhaps even foreign to the gods themselves. Not that any of them have the intelligence to create something like this." Their voice was mocking, echoing off the lonely room's walls and glass displays.

The room was an high-tech one, with those screens near the display cases and the colorful buttons. The walls were made of a brown colored material that highly resembled marble, Nico thought, as he followed the Seer towards where he was being led to. The place gave off that professional feel that you usually got from museums, something that probably fit.

The Seer stopped near a screen and raised their hands to tap out something, before turning to the buttons.

A set of metal doors that he hadn't seen earlier near a display case opened up, revealing another small room lit yellow.

Nico was led into the room, which had him staring in awe. The walls were covered with blueprints, detailed diagrams, drawings of various buildings and designs for perhaps other things. The architecture depicted in the sketches was what stood out the most; if built in real life, it would be extremely famous.

He glanced up front, and his jaw dropped even lower, if possible.

A grey, sleek motorcycle stood on a display. It's wheels were huge, the black glinting yellow and its silver center shining. The bike had two leather seats, black handlebars and a strange device attached at the back, pulsing with a white light.

"This is _Ton Taxidióti."_

"The Traveller," Nico translated, his eyes still transfixed on the bike.

"This motorcycle is one of the most greatest inventions to exist, unknown to the rest of the world," they said, running a gloved hand along the seats.

"Have you ever thought of what time is, di Angelo? It's not just the seconds ticking by, nor is it a clock. It's a separate dimension all together. It's a debated topic between mortals, you know, and they put it into amazing works of fiction. H G Wells, for example. Or those comics the younger generation insist on reading." They seemed to roll their eyes in distaste.

"My point is, people think about it. Some spend entire lifetimes studying it, only to emerge as a failure. You may think we have a titan of Time, it's embodiment, supposedly - Kronos, that bastard, or perhaps a Primordial such as Chronos, the Greek equivalent of Time itself. They aren't exactly wrong, but these beings just control the surface. Time is deeper, much more deeper than anyone can imagine.

"Unlike Kronos, Chronos is supposed to be time itself - liquid time, switching between different ages, different phases, all that. If you were to meet the entity, and managed not to explode, you would see yourself in different stages - a boy, maybe an old man. Imagine how powerful that being is, and what could happen if that power was harnessed."

As they said that, Nico felt like he was a younger version of himself, being lectured by Minos.

He wouldn't completely trust this entity, he decided, he'd just roll along with whatever they said and stay out of trouble.

"This orb you see here," the Seer gestured towards the pulsing thing, "is a chunk of Chronos' power. It's a physical manifestation of what he does."

Nico swallowed, suddenly overtaken by a bad feeling. "Did you-"

"Oh no, di Angelo, we didn't kill the entity." There was a hint of a smirk in their distorted voice. "That would be disastrous, just as killing Atlas, that stupid titan. As much as a scumbag he is, ending him would result in the sky toppling down on the earth."

He still had his doubts, but before he could ask anything about how exactly they had gotten the orb, the Seer moved on. "Now, you may be wondering about your purpose here."

Nico nodded slightly, the suspicions against the Seer rising with every second.

"I was told of a prophecy a long time ago. It wasn't exactly a typical prophecy, the ones that come in rhymes and cloaked in mystery, no. It was just a sentence that, at the time, didn't make any sense to me. But now I see its significance."

The Seer opened a book lying on the table, flipping through yellowed pages.

Suddenly, they turned the book towards Nico, pointing at the highlighted sentence.

His face paled.

He'd heard that before.

He'd seen that line somewhere before.

And it wasn't in any old book.

' _Angel, come run back_

 _Set the clock on its track'_

"The harpy," he said, staring at it. "She said that. She said that right after the Giant War."

"Apparently, this was the lead to the next prophecy. It's your fate."

Any suspicion faded away, and all Nico could hear was the blood roaring in his ears. This was Fate, he thought. This was it.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked, just to make sure.

"I didn't. Not until I was told that you were searching for me, by my little friend who happened to pass by your little camp."

"Who?" Nico felt angry at being spied on, but he decided to push it away for now. "We call him Sound," they said, and as he did a tiny bird flew into the room and settled on their shoulder.

"The sparrow," he realized, looking at the white stripe along its back. He remembered seeing it outside his window, glancing at it near Percy's cabin window, cursing it for chirping its head off. "How-"

"I happen to know some species of bird that offered to help me if required," they said simply, "however, Sound here happened to be intrigued by your deserted cabin and stumbled across you." The bird cocked its head to one side and chirped, seemingly saying 'that's what you get for scaring me, punk.'

Nico's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything.

"Anyway, I must explain the Traveller," the Seer flicked the bird off their shoulder, who flew off out of the door. Nico frowned at the bike, as they began speaking once again.

"Where was I? Yes. So, with this orb, we can actually open up time and go through it. As you know, the hero the Flash generates speed fast enough to break into the dimension of time. This bike works similarly, except that it will open the door into the dimension much more easily in comparison to his method. You won't have to travel faster than the speed of light, which should be a relief.

"Your mission here, which is the reason I'm entrusting this motorcycle to you in the first place, is to do what your sister has asked of you."

"Set the clock on its track," Nico muttered, looking at the orb.

He wasn't sure of this at all. He hadn't read any of those comics, so the impending future, if you could call it that, had never looked that uncertain. Nico would be changing history. There were bound to be consequences, some after effects, perhaps. If the Seer knew, they weren't saying anything.

However, he was going to get Bianca back.

If it was fated to happen, then so it was.

A surge of ebullience poured through his very being, eliminating the negative, for the first time.

He could do this.

"Are you ready, di Angelo?"

A deep breath. "Yeah. Okay."

* * *

 **IV**

It all happened so fast, he barely had time to process anything. A minute or two ago, he been suited up on the bike, led to an open ground, and hit the accelerator.

Then it was a flash of something, and he popped up here.

A junkyard, by the looks of it. He ran through the stacks and heaps of metal, looking for the group of five.

"No!" That was definitely Thalia.

A bolt of blue lightning hit the huge figure in the distance. Nico braced himself as a huge tremble shook the ground and the robot fell to the ground. He stood up and peered at the scene in front of him.

He spotted Thalia, holding her spear and shield in some kind of battle stance. Zöe held her bow, arrow nocked, ready to fire. She didn't look any different from the last time he had seen her. He saw the yellow spots dancing in and out of his vision, but he shook his head and looked at the others.

Grover, the satyr, seemed to be the only one who wasn't holding any kind of menacing weapon, eyes wide in fear and anxiety. Nico reminded himself that this was before he had met Pan.

And then he saw Percy and Bianca, the two of them talking. He crept closer to the scene, hiding behind the huge hunk of metal that so conveniently happened to be right behind the two.

They both looked young. They shouldn't have had to go through this.

Bianca was how she has always been. The same determined expression he'd always known to take over her face when he did something stupid.

His head suddenly hurt. He felt nauseous, shivering slightly, but it wasn't from the cold at all.

"Distract it," Percy was saying, the grim undertone to his voice even more apparent, "I'll just have to time it right." He looked so much younger, so much more innocent, it made Nico stare in surprise at how much different he looked and sounded like.

He looked at his sister, who had clenched her jaw in some silent kind of anger. "No. I'll go."

And that's when the alarms blaring in his head just went up to the maximum volume. It was time. He was watching it in the flesh. Eyes glued to the scene, he found himself unable to move. He watched with some sort of a sick fascination.

Shock decorated Percy's features. "You can't. You're new at this! You'll die!"

His sister looked surprisingly nonchalant. "It's my fault the monster came after us. It's my responsibility." She suddenly bent down to pick up a small gold statue which Nico recognized all too well. She pushed it into Percy's hands, a determined look on her face, before saying the words Nico dreaded the most.

"If anything happens, give it to Nico. Tell him... tell him I'm sorry."

Red filled his line of vision as he watched Percy scream, reaching out to her.

"Bianca, no!"

She didn't wait. She charged at Talos' huge left foot. The alarms went a pitch higher and stopped, and that's when he hopped out of his hiding spot and ran after Bianca, ignoring a confused Percy, who blinked in surprise.

Everything that happened next was a blur.

He remembered flashes of light.

Bianca's confused face as he pushed her out of the way.

The metal crunching under his own feet as he climbed up the robot's machinery in his left limb.

Screams of outrage in the distance as he took control of the bot, making it punch itself. He could have almost laughed at everyone's shocked expressions from the eyes of Talos.

The robot teetering about, like it was on edge.

The huge crash, shaking him to the bone, as the robot fell backwards in the most ungraceful way.

His eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable to happen.

Metal collapsing on him, that brief pain that vanquished much quicker than usual.

The silence.

The white light that was so welcoming, so warm.

It felt like home. Something he'd never had.

So he welcomed it with open arms.

.

.

.

.

"Who the hell was that?"

"Well, the robot stopped. What was that?"

"They have saved us... for the cost of their own life. May the Fates be with thee."

"What-"

Only she was silent as they rushed towards the robot, expression unreadable.

.

.

.

.

Nobody noticed the tiny, gold figurine on the ground, forgotten amongst everything else.

Even as it glinted under the moonlight, no one saw it at all.

.

.

.

.

This was only the start of everything. The beginning to the end of all things. The single flick that revealed the final chapter.

Clothos bowed her head, after looking at both her sisters.

"He has done it." Her tone held emotions that were too complex to decipher.

"It has begun, sisters. It has already begun."

* * *

 **(Author's Note) - Who remembered the sparrow?**


	5. Chapter Four

**_Clocks_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Four_**

* * *

 ** _I_**

He somehow knew he wasn't dead.

At first, he thought he'd seen Thanatos approaching him, a blank expression on his face. Then Death seemed to shake his head at him, and went back to the spot of light he came from.

That was all. Everything was then once again dunked into black goo, and he just stared into the dark. Did Death just reject him? He didn't know what to think, much less do.

When he opened his heavy eyelids once again (it was getting quite annoying by then), Nico didn't expect to see a familiar ceiling light. He also didn't fathom that he could be sleeping in this bed once again. He absent-mindedly ran a hand along the blanket. It was black and fluffy, just like the one he had in the Underworld...

Nico shot up, looking around the room in a sort of wide-eyed panic.

The same walls. The same rug on the floor. The same desk. The same furniture. He looked at the closet just to make sure. The picture on the wall, accurate.

Nico was in the Underworld.

But what was he doing here? He rubbed his throbbing head, and tried to remember what had happened last.

The Traveller. He'd gone back in time, hadn't he? He'd saved Bianca from her inevitable fate on that quest, and stopped that huge automaton. After that... he didn't know. All he'd seen after that was black. Darkness, his old friend.

He didn't understand what he'd decided to do back then. Mind foggy, everything misty and hidden - Nico didn't like the feeling at all.

Nico sat up, and glanced around through bleary eyes. Everything looked exactly like it had been when he'd last left, so it looked like Hades hadn't ordered anyone to clean his son's room. A demigod didn't have time to clean rooms, anyway, and Nico was the ultimate example of that. The number of errands he ran for his father were endless.

He remembered the time he'd brought Percy down here.

Percy...

A sudden, uneasy feeling passed through him. He hadn't told the other boy anything. Nico shook his head. He'd find Percy and talk to him later, right before figuring out why he was here.

What was 'here' anyway? He looked at the calendar on the wall, squinting to read the date.

It was the day after he had run into the past.

A stab of pain passed through his head. Nico groaned in discomfort, rubbing his temples. He couldn't deal with a migraine now. His head kept throbbing, like as if someone was trying to insert something in there but his head was a cement block. Another sharp bout cut through, worse than before. "Ah.." He curled up into himself, squeezing his eyes as random spikes kept driving themselves through his skull.

It hurt worse than some of the tortures he'd endured in Tartarus. At least his head was intact, but it felt like someone was forcing their way out of head. He ducked his head into a pillow to muffle his pained sounds.

Suddenly, a loud knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts. He frowned, eyeing the door cautiously. The servants had petite, soft knocks, and Hades or Persephone never showed up to his room.

He didn't say anything, but as the pain coursing through his head subsided, the door opened anyway. He heaved in a breath, looking up to see who had walked in.

His jaw practically fell off when he saw who was there.

There stood Bianca di Angelo, dressed in hunter attire, a hesitant smile on her face that he had missed so much.

She looked exactly like she had all those years ago, a silver glow across her skin marking her immortality, her hair braided back, hands clasped behind her back.

"Nico?" she asked, and that's when he realized he couldn't say anything.

He had to remind himself that no, this wasn't a spirit. This was her. In the flesh.

Nico held back a hysterical laugh, staring at Bianca so blankly he was sure she noticed. She asked him, "Nico, you okay?" His throat went dry.

It hit him then. She was actually here.

He practically bounded off the bed, stumbled on his feet, right before wrapping his arms around her so tightly it probably felt like a way too tight seatbelt. Bianca seemed surprised at first, but she hugged him back, albeit confused. Nico pulled back and grabbed her shoulders, inspecting her face.

"You- You're alive," he finally said, his voice coming out octaves higher than he would have liked it to be.

"Of course," she frowned quizzically, "why wouldn't I be?"

Nico couldn't believe it. He wanted to cry and hug her over and over. However, seeing the look of utter confusion on his sister's face, he decided it could wait.

He'd thought he'd moved on. Now, seeing her face once again, Nico didn't know how he believed that.

"Okay, so," Bianca blinked, as if remembering something, "Dad's calling a meeting. Remember the proposition that P- uh, our friend in the sea put forward? We're considering it. I guess we should agree, and Dad thinks so too."

He decided it would be best if he went along with it. "Uh.. Yeah. Okay."

His now alive sister's eyes narrowed in that way they did when she suspected he was being mischievous back then. "Are you alright? You're acting strange." The lie poured out naturally. He'd gotten good at it in the last few years. "I'm fine."

"Well, Dad is waiting. Better hurry up." She gave him a smile and walked out of the room, closing the door with a soft click.

Nico fell upon his bed, head in his hands.

He changed what happened,and brought Bianca back. And here she was, back in his life. He ought to be happy now.

So why was he feeling the opposite?

Nico stood up, sighing loudly, as he made his way to the bathroom.

After brushing his teeth with an amount of force that was probably too much, and setting the shower water temperature to the hottest that was available, he walked out in a towel, mind blank as he put on a black shirt. He dug through the stack of clothes for his favorite jacket, but didn't find it. Strange, he thought, picking up another one and after shrugging it on, walked out of the room and slammed the door shut.

The halls outside looked eery and dark, exactly the way they did when he'd been here last. The only stark difference was the torches of fire placed alternately on the walls. Nico followed the familiar path to the throne room, running a hand across the black walls.

He walked in front of the throne, spotting two black chairs facing it. Hades was already there, the Lord of the Underworld drinking something out of a silver goblet. Bianca sat on one of the black chairs, studying a silver arrow with a burning intensity. Nico ignored his gut feeling that somehow told him something was wrong, before sitting down next to Bianca.

"Ah, Nico." Hades gave him one of the those rare smiles he gave; a twitch of the side of his lips, which made Nico even more suspicious. Hades, being his father or not, he never smiled unless it was something like winning a war, or completing something particularly hard, and even then it was uncertain. "Your sister must have surprised you today, I'm sure."

Bianca beamed, and Nico realized how much he'd missed her smile. "I was supposed to drop in a week later, but Lady Artemis let me stay for two week! How cool is that?" Nico gave her a small smile, but it was genuine. He'd never done that before. "That's awesome," he said.

Frankly speaking, nothing registered in his brain. Everything was so surreal, he felt he was going delirious for good.

"Well, on to other matters. Nico, I'm sure you know what's going on and how grave our situation is?" Think fast, think fast. He didn't know. "Uh.. Could you tell me again? Just for good measure," he added quickly, seeing the scowl on Hades' face. What was going on,?

"Clearly, you are to be briefed again. Bianca?"

"Yeah," she straightened her back, something she did when she was about to talk. "We have to take a side in this war. Our friend in the sea is our best bet, and so, were joining the Insurrection. This motion is to be debated on before being passed.

"Wait..." Nico could feel his mind buzzing with questions. War? Didn't two of them just get over already? The Insurrection sounded like the title of a horror movie, but Nico doubted that was what it was.

Then he paused. Could be tell Bianca anything? No, he decided.

But what exactly had changed?

Shaking his head, he nodded.

Bianca's eyes narrowed in concern. "Are you alright? You seem a bit off. Bad dream?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he mumbled, but he was sure he didn't sound convincing at all. He didn't to himself.

Hades scowled. "You don't seem up to your usual standards. Are you-"

"Can I have some air?" he blurted out, to which he earned two disbelieving stares. "I... I tripped and hit my head on the bedpost." An easy lie. "I.. can't comprehend anything." That was a half truth.

"We told you not to over exert yourself, Nic," Bianca muttered, frowning at him. "Go and lie down on your bed a bit. I know we are short on time, but if you're woozy it won't help anyone." Nico looked at Hades, and nearly fell off his chair. "Go rest, son. What happened yesterday was excruciating."

His father telling him to rest? He bit back a sarcastic retort. Yeah, this was Wonderland alright.

Nico walked out, feeling worse than before, and the stares of his 'family' drilling into his back as he did.

Shit.

* * *

 ** _II_**

The sound of a splash echoed off the tiled walls of the room, a small thing in comparison to the roaring water from the tap. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow..."

Nico scowled at his own reflection in the foggy mirror. There were only a few people who he could contact, but yet, the list seemed endless; picking between all of them seemed an arduous task. He made no move to shut of the tap. Hades could deal with the water bills if he had to.

"Show me.." he hesitated. Although there were alternatives, there was only one person who's face he wanted to see, who's voice would calm his jittery nerves.

"Show me Hazel Levesque."

The water shimmered under the light from the window, and the rainbow grew a lot more solid. He stared at the surface, and then at the mist that was slowly accumulating above it. A deep breath later, the screen-like layer of mist flickered yellow.

"I can't seem to reach them," a voice that definitely didn't sound like Hazel suddenly said. "Anyone else?"

His eyebrows knit together in a barely concealed look of curiosity, with a frown to match. "Why not, Lady Iris?" Sure he was irked, but that didn't stop him from showing a bit of respect. Iris had earned that much; she wasn't bad.

"I don't know for sure, Nico di Angelo," Iris said. "It's coming up as static. Usually, when that happens, the receiver is either calling someone else, which I can safely rule out, or they could be in the land beyond us gods, or in a medically unstable condition, or... they're deceased."

Nico blinked, and then shook his head. He hoped that the last option was not the case. "Uh, sure. Thanks."

A pause. "You can keep the drachma."

The goddess seemed to smile, wherever she was. "Thank you, son of Hades." The gold tinge disappeared from the water and the mist dissipated. The rainbow faded.

He shut off the tap, and walked out of the bathroom.

There went his last drachma.

Nico went and sat down on the small couch in the corner of his room, head in his hands.

He didn't know what to do.

His blood sister was alive. However, everyone else he knew was either completely different than he remembered, or was out of station, hopefully.

He didn't know what to even make of this situation.

Then an idea struck him.

Could he actually meet Hazel in person?

But he'd changed time. He'd changed the moment when his sister was dead, and brought her back. Therefore, Nico would have never disappeared to find a way to bring her back. Nico wouldn't have wandered the lands of the dead on his own. Nico wouldn't have become he was today.

So Nico wouldn't have tried to resurrect his sister when Thanatos was chained, assuming he was trapped, which meant that Hazel would still be in-

The Fields of Asphodel.

A shiver ran down his spine, and all of a sudden, his stomach began doing flips.

 _Hazel didn't exist in this world._

How had he walked into this mess?

He picked up his backpack from the array of seemingly frivolous things on his table. Zipping it open, he tossed in a jacket, a spare shirt, a ziplock bag with a few squares of ambrosia, and a small dagger. Nico attached his sword and its sheath onto his belt, before changing into a full-sleeved black shirt.

After tossing the bag onto his back, he pulled on his ratty black sneakers and walked out of the door, immediately melting into the shadows.

 _She may not be here, but she could be alive._

.

.

There was probably going to be trouble when he got back to the Underworld, Nico thought, as he trudged through the snow, shivering thanks to the cold. The only hint he had contemplated over whilst leaving was talking to Bianca about all of it.

He could just tell her the truth. Tell her that he'd changed history and that he didn't know it would change nearly everything.

(That was a lie, all by itself. He had been blinded by the offer the Seer had put forward. Stepped right into their trap despite it being so glaringly obvious.)

He could tell her about Hazel.

For some reason, that thought made him uneasy; he had a feeling that wouldn't go well in any universe. It was best kept his secret for now.

One thing that kept him awake, even while he camped out in Colorado, then Washington, was the significance of those dreams he'd had. It was obvious to him that they weren't a coincidence. Nothing ever was.

The Seer, however, seemed to be very loosely connected to the Greek powers. When he'd faced Iapetus, Kronos, or even Gaia, they all had auras of energy, radiated some kind of power. The Titans had a harsher aura than the gods, while the earth Primordial seemed to be the power itself, in its rawest form.

When Nico had stood with the Seer, he'd felt nothing.

There was an air of intelligence, but he hadn't really felt the same way he did with all the other divine beings he'd encountered so far.

Morpheus had been in a deep slumber ever since the Titan War had ended, as far as Thanatos' reports were considered. Hypnos had made sure of that, before he fell asleep himself. And if Death hadn't updated those files, it meant that the god of dreams was possibly still sleeping.

(Thanatos had a way of knowing things. Hades, the Furies, and even Nico himself had tried to prove him wrong many a time. It didn't go well.)

So it couldn't be him dealing out those nightmares.

Then what was?

Shaking his head, Nico kept walking ahead. He had already shadow-traveled his way to Dawson City, Yukon, which was Alaska's literal neighbor. Blowing on his freezing hands, he leaned against a withered tree and tried to catch his breath. He couldn't shadow-travel to Alaska, anyway.

The monsters he'd probably meet would help him blow off some steam. They'd be toast by the time Nico was done.

He kept dragging his feet onwards through the white expanse of snow.

Soon enough, time began flying as fast as the wind flipping pages in a book. There was still no monster in sight.

The Monster Donut store seemed deserted. Nico could see the dust on the counter, even as he peered in through the small window. As far as he could tell, no traps were set, no monsters were being extremely stealthy (if they could), and no one was in the area.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

A wary Nico got past the border, without having to reveal any documents. The Mist was quite handy when it came down to it.

Alaska was relatively cold, eerily quiet and still monster-less.

He sighed, and began his long trek to Seward.

He'd find her.

* * *

 ** _III_**

He found the place in a few days time. Luckily, Dawson City was slightly in proximity. Nico was surprised by the fact that he remembered something from his Geography classes back at Westover Hall.

It looked just like he'd expected. Deserted. Empty. Haunted.

Nico shook his head and stalked inside the open door. If there were any spirits, ghosts or ghouls, he'd feel their presence right away. There were more than a few pros to being a son of Hades.

The wooden planks creaked underneath his feet. Furniture lay scattered about - a worse-for-wear couch, a cracked mirror. A closet had large holes, and Nico could see the jagged pieces lying around on the floor. The window was musty and seemed like it hadn't been cleaned in years.

Nico cleared his throat. It was now or never.

"Hazel?"

He peeked through a half-collapsed book shelf, coughing due to the dust. A room was behind it, but it was empty.

The kitchen was worse. There were burn marks all over the walls, and a splat of something brown above it. Nico tried not to think of it too much. Utensils and crockery lay in shards or with similar marks on the tiled floor, which had tiles missing. The refrigerator was in a horizontal position on the ground. He didn't try to go inside.

The hallways were dark; no light made its way towards it. He walked through them anyway, opening the door of each room and casting a glance into every one as he passed. They were all either empty, or completely destroyed.

"What happened here?" He wondered out loud, staring at the fireplace in the drawing room. Ash was all over the room, and there still was the faint stench of soot.

There was a rug on the floor, which was also in the black hue. Nico could see hints of red under the soot. He walked on the rug, and as he did, Nico felt something underneath him. The creaking of the wood had stopped, and instead of feeling uneven planks, he felt a smooth surface.

He stepped back and forth, to make sure, and then pulled the rug back.

There was a metal trapdoor underneath. It seemed relatively bright in comparison to everything else in the house.

So, Nico did what the natural thing was. He opened it and climbed down the ladder, into an underground cavern.

The cave seemed silent, but Nico didn't trust it for a second. He crept down the jagged staircase, and rolled behind a table.

He rose from his crouch slowly, inspecting his surroundings.

There were shelves with vials, filled with different colored liquids. Another table was opposite to the one he was hiding under, covered with daggers and other weapons. A few chairs were scattered around, and a small photo frame lay on a lone coffee table.

He looked around, and made sure no one was looking.

Then, he crept towards the small table and picked up the photo.

It was Hazel, her gold eyes sparkling as she smiled. She looked to be about ten years old. Behind her stood another lady, who had a small smile on her thin lips. She seemed like an older version of Hazel. That was her mother, Nico thought distractedly, as he placed it down and looked at the vials and weapons.

"What happened to you, Hazel?" He whispered. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hazel, sweet _Hazel_ , had an array of the most deadly weapons to be found. Imperial Gold, Celestial Bronze, Stygian Iron, 'Phlethegnal Steel' (when was that a thing?) - made up maces, swords, helmets, darts, crossbows, arrows and even guns.

The hairs at the back of his neck stood on end. Someone was here.

It was too late.

Suddenly he felt dizzy, and clutched his head. A dull throb had begun at his temples. He could feel himself losing consciousness, yet again. While his body protested, he still sank to his knees, eyelids drooping.

"Shit," he muttered, as he fell to the ground, eyes rolling to the back of his head.

The last thing he saw was a familiar person looking down at him, eyes ablaze in anger.

* * *

 ** _IV_**

"This is Katie Gardner, reporting for Hephaestus Television."

A figure hopped over the wreckage of cars, glancing behind every few seconds as she ran. Her hair was tied back, and a headset was over her head. In her hands were a notebook and a pen. A dagger was strapped to her right thigh.

She ducked under the remainder of a collapsed building. "America's a war zone, with Manhattan right at the center. I'm near the Empire State Building, which seems to be the only intact structure within a fifty mile radius. Our friend upstairs seems to be getting creative with new ways to get rid of mortals."

The last bit was dripping with sarcasm. Katie's voice sounded almost bored, but she was far from it.

"I've got an army after me. A few spawns of Hermes, I believe. Doing my best to send them off track but currently, efforts are in vain." A crash sounded from somewhere in front of the fallen structure. She took that as a cue to leave. A carnivorous plant green where she had once stood, snapping its jaws hungrily.

"Venus Flytraps seem to be the most effective," Katie muttered, a few screams echoing in the background. "I send only the best," she paused, "and perhaps we can say the same about the current reporters. We have-"

Another roar, a crash, and the clinking of swords.

"Maybe later," she glared at the explosion site. "The Queen's temple is apparently protected by a force field. To destroy it would be quite difficult."

"On other news, today's only great bit. Our friend way downstairs has agreed to assist us. This is great, only because we are slowly becoming extremely desperate for allies."

" _Katie Gardner_!" A voice bellowed across the field.

"And there we go," Katie scowled, "I'm surrounded by Hermes morons. I can make it out if there are reinforcements."

"SURRENDER NOW, OR WE WILL RESORT TO BRUTALITY!"

There was a group of fifty demigods, all dressed in Greek armor. The only thing that differentiated them from the usuals sent after their spies was the winged combat shoes they had on their feet, and the symbol of a caduceus on each of their shields. The first two stepped forward, pulling off their helmets.

While Katie was hidden under the collapsed rock cave-like structure, she could see their faces clearly.

"Travis and Connor Stoll lead the attack," she whispered, creeping forward to get a better look. "This seems to be only a few of their allies. Our watery friend has sectors of warriors, each having larger numbers."

A bomb hit the place where she stood. She jumped back, running towards the exit. Green smoke filled the air, and green flames rose close behind.

Katie swore. "They have Greek fire. Unable to be extinguished by carbon dioxide or water, this flame is unbeatable."

As she made her way out, she saw the enemy advancing. Shit. The fire surrounded her from three sides, and from the fourth, the two sons of Hermès stepped forward.

"You've run for far too long, Gardner. Demeter will pay, just like all the other traitors of Olympus." Connor stepped forward, eyes as cold as steel. "The Lord will have your head."

"Overconfident and seem to worship the Sky," she murmured, before saying, in a much louder voice, "pigaínete sta korákia!"

Katie backed away, reaching for her dagger with her free hand.

"You're outnumbered," a painfully familiar voice said. Travis stepped forward, eyes slightly sad. "Give up, Katie."

The daughter of Demeter saw through it all. "Never," she said, through clenched teeth. "And do not call me that. You lost that right a long time ago."

"Katie, please, don't make this difficult." Travis held out his hand, looking at her pleadingly.

Katie stared at his outstretched palm, feeling rage cloud her vision. He still had the nerve to do _this_ , after everything? As she reached up to switch off her comm link, she swore at him. "Stop whatever you're trying to do, Stoll. We're on the opposite sides of the board. Act like it."

His expression darkened. So it was all a facade, indeed. "Listen to me. I had to go through enough crap to get this assignment. Just so that you wouldn't get hurt at the hands of some imbecile." Maybe not.

"Why? So you can?"

"I don't want to. I never wanted to."

"Well, life isn't fair," she hissed, "deal with it."

"Katie, please-"

"You should have thought of all this before. Before you decided to join _your Lord_ ," she said, anger lacing her tone. "If this is what you wanted, you should have left them an year ago."

Travis' shoulders dropped. "I can't," he whispered, "you know I can't. My father... my duty..."

"Then shut up. Don't talk about not wanting to do whatnot. You've already gone too far."

Just then, a gunshot could be heard. A few screams, a huge bellow.

While the army was distracted, Katie slipped away, stomping on the pearl she had been given to use in emergencies. She figured this counted as one. As the bubble floated away, she switched on the link.

"Hey, she got away!"

She closed her eyes, as the water grew nearer.

"Are you okay, Katie?"

She breathed out in relief at the sound of the son of Apollo's voice. "Just peachy, Will. Just peachy."

* * *

 **(Author** ' **s Note) - I'm alive. What a joke.**

 **RL got quite difficult, thus this late update. Sorry about that. The next chapter will up sooner, you have my word.**

 **I'm not an American/Canadian resident or native, so if I've got any geographical facts wrong, then please feel free to correct it in your review. I will make the necessary changes.**


End file.
